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Today I am interviewing Alex Lamb, author of the new science-fiction novel, Nemesis, second book in the Roboteer trilogy.

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DJ: Hey Alex! Thanks for coming back for another interview!

For readers who aren’t familiar with you (or missed out on your previous interview) , could you tell us a little about yourself?

Alex Lamb: Sure. Well, I’m a dad. I live in Santa Cruz, CA, and I was born in Oxford, England. I’ve had a slightly unusual career that’s involved me doing a bunch of different things. Writing computer software to pay the bills and writing novels for joy have been two constants. Besides that, I’ve been an improv instructor, a communication skills trainer, and a sort of semi-pro simulation scientist working in everything from quantum gravity research, to evolutionary biology, to economics.

DJ: What is Nemesis about?

Alex: It’s primarily about a young guy called Mark who’s basically the estranged protégé of Will Kuno-Monet, the hero from the first book. Life hasn’t been easy for him. A lot of the projects that Will started after the end of Roboteer haven’t panned out well, including his plan to launch a new breed of super-high-functioning roboteers, of which Mark is one. Mark has a lot of edgy tech in his body that he’s not allowed to talk about and by this point a pretty bitter relationship with both Will and the government that helped create him.

About thirty years have passed since the war in the first book, and society as reached another turning point. War is on the brink of breaking out again. And into this volatile mix comes word of a violent attack on a politically sensitive outpost that may or may not be due to aliens.

Today I am interviewing Alex Lamb, author of the new science fiction, space opera novel, Roboteer, first book of the Roboteer trilogy.

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DJ: Hey Alex! Thanks for stopping by to do this interview!

For readers who aren’t familiar with you, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Alex Lamb: Sure. I was born in Britain and now live in Santa Cruz, CA. I’m a dad. I like hiking. And I’ve had a rather confused career. I’ve been an improv comedy instructor, a research scientist, a software developer, and a communication skills trainer for Olympic athletes, executives and engineers. My resume looks like a bomb hit it. Right now, though, I’m loving being a writer.

DJ: What is Roboteer about?

Alex: It’s about a young man, Will Monet, who’s been bred to interface with machines. He grows up on a human colony world, Galatea, that’s struggling with a failed terraforming project. Genetic engineering has become the norm.

His planet finds itself suddenly caught up in a war with Earth: the homeworld that abandoned them a long time ago. The government has passed into the hands of a group of religious extremists and they want their colonies back. However, they’re not that keen on keeping the actual colonists.

Will finds himself working on a starship on a secret mission that might decide the war. However, these aren’t your nice, ordinary, clean starships. In this future, starships need to be miles on a side to fit in all the horribly radioactive accelerator machinery they run on. And the only room for people on those ships is a space about the size of a minivan tucked right down in the center. All the work on the ship is done by thousands of robots out in the hull, and it’s Will’s job to manage all of them. The other five people on the ship are genius scientists and military officers who make all the decisions.

They find themselves fighting for their lives. And the mission gets bigger than any of them expected.Continue reading →